Dick Tracy Stories – 1940

Baby Experiments (January – March)

A baby is found in a suitcase in a luggage terminal. The baby is the grandson of Mr. Kroywen. His son Kress had married Toby Townly, and she had hidden it so Mr. Kroywen couldn’t use it for his experiments. As soon as Kress and his father arrive to claim the child, Mr. Kroywen abducts it, takes it to his lab and injects it with tropic sleep to see if the cure he invented works. Tracy catches up to him and arrest Kroywen, but the cure is spilt in the process. Tracy is forced to recreate the cure and administer it to save the child’s life.

Mary X (March – April)

Tracy is leaving the Kroywen place when he finds an amnesia victim in his car. She comes to be known as Mary X, and becomes a night singer at Club Rhumba. It’s there that an attempt is made at her life and the main suspect is local industrialist, Mr. Mason. Tracy keeps Mary X with him at all times as the case unravels and it eventually leads to the body of Mason’s partner, Freez. Mason is confronted and he tries to kill Mary with a blow to the head. This hit actually gives her her memory back, and she recalls that her real name is Leona Sunny and that she had seen Mason shoot Freez and a blow to the head originally by Mason was what gave her amnesia. Mason confesses but ends up shot. It’s meant to look like Tracy’s good friend Rudy Seton is the killer, but Tracy doesn’t believe it and with Leona’s help, catches the real killer, Junky Doolb. Doolb had killed Mason because he had refused to manufacture his gambling equipment in the future.

Mamma and the Midget (April – June)

Trohs comes to visit Doolb at headquarters and while there, he passes an empty gun to Doolb. It’s enough to trick the police into shooting Doolb so Trohs can become the new gang leader. They’re a group of bank robbers and when the police go up against them, Tracy ends up with a broken hand and Patton is thrown through a plate glass window by Momma. Later, Momma is captured, But Trohs gets away, and Momma swears revenge for his cowardice. Trohs makes it to a mountain resort which he buys as a hideout. Momma, meanwhile, fakes illness and goes after Trohs. She arrives at the resort and scalds him badly in a shower. Tracy arrives and is unable to save Trohs, but does arrest Momma.

Yogee Yamma’s Hypnotic Gas (July – September)

Tracy comes across Yogee when Yogee’s wife tries to shake him down for a new dress. He soon learns that Yogee owns a powerful gas that he uses to hypnotize wealthy widows into emptying out their safes with. Yogee’s wife is captured when they try to escape at the airport, but Yogee gets away with the use of his gas on Tracy. Tracy starts to shadow Yogee and discovers his underground laboratory and the chained professor making the gas for him. Tracy ambushes Yogee when he returns, but Yogee gets away and floods the hideout. Luckily, a semi falls through the street providing an exit for Tracy and Prof. Roloc Bard. On the other side of town, Yogee has gotten drunk during his self-celebration and the flammable gas goes off, burning him alive.

Black Pearl (September – October)

When a bomb is found in the post office, it’s taken back to headquarters and set off. The shrapnel inside was in fact newspaper lettering and it leads them right to Pearl Erad, a.k.a. Black Pearl. She kidnaps Patton and Tracy and forces them to test one of her new war machines at her mountain proving grounds. For a while Tracy and Patton are hostages until they transmit a Morse code warning to a local water plant via a water pipe. It brings the police who subdue Pearl’s forces and Pearl herself is captured by an undercover Jim Trailer.

Junior and the Stolen Bike Ring (October – Decemeber)

Deafy Sweetfellow runs a stolen bike ring and he has his man Johnny Naem trick Junior into opening up a bike parking lot. After it’s open, Deafy’s truck backs over all of the bikes, leaving Junior with the grief. Deafy comes to Junior with cheap new bikes, but Junior soon learns that they’re stolen. Junior follows Deafy, but they try and run him down with their truck. Deafy and Johnny hide out at Mrs. Naem’s until Tracy catches up to them. As he escapes, Deafy is sprayed by a skunk and it’s the stench that gives him away when he tries to hide on a Christmas tree shipment. Deafy’s arrested just in time for Christmas.

Crime Inc. (December – February)

Krome is a man who uses children’s toys as weapons, and decides to start his own killing business called Crime Inc. One of his toys fails to kill a victim though ,bringing in the police. Krome comes back to see why it hasn’t gone off and is not only greeted by the police, but his double-crossing moll, Kitty, as well. As she shoots Krome and Lowse from the back, Tracy throws the nitro from the toy from the front. Lowse is killed and the wounded Krome is abducted by Kitty. Krome gets the best of her, electrocutes her, and escapes with his gangrenous hand. He forces the driver of a radio station’s car to take him to a doctor. The driver uses a radio to alert the police to their location and is shot by Krome. Krome finds a doctor, has his hand amputated, and gets the doctor to arrange him a ride in a snowplow. Tracy comes across the doctor and is soon on Krome’s trail. In desperation, Krome hijacks the plow, crashes into a lake, and when he crawls out, he freezes to death.